Expands

ExxonMobil Corp. and Russia’s state-owned OAO Rosneft have agreed to expand a 2011 strategic cooperation agreement that significantly expands exploration and development plans, and offers Rosneft a big stake in the Point Thomson, AK, natural gas and condensate project.

Williams has clinched a long-term natural gas processing agreement that expands its Canadian natural gas processing volumes by 60% and opens the door to a growing petrochemical business.

The nation’s energy capital will get a little bigger in the coming years as Irving, TX-based ExxonMobil Corp. expands its Houston campus, which is under development, to accommodate employees it will relocate from Fairfax, VA, and Akron, OH. Affected will be the Fairfax offices of ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Co.; ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co.; ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties Marketing Co.; the Akron-based employees of ExxonMobil Chemical Co.; and select positions from ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co. and ExxonMobil Chemical Co. now at the company’s Baytown, TX, refinery complex. The new campus will have multiple low-rise office buildings, laboratory, conference and training centers and facilities such as child care, a wellness center and other amenities. Construction began in 2011 at the 385-acre wooded site near the intersection of I-45 and the Hardy Toll Road. The facility will accommodate about 10,000 employees who will move to the new campus in phases beginning in early 2014. Full occupancy for employees is expected by 2015.

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire last Thursday signed into law part of a bill (HB 1634) that expands the state regulatory commission’s authority over pipeline safety in the state. Gregoire rejected a section of the legislation that would have exempted from the new law certain “consumer-owned” utilities, such as electric cooperatives, municipal utilities and public utility districts. The governor characterized the new law as including “a comprehensive damage prevention program for underground utilities.” A spokesperson with the Washington Utilitites and Transportation Commission (UTC) confirmed that the new statute will require anyone doing excavation work to subscribe to a one-number underground utility locator service and to report damage done to underground utility infrastructure to the UTC. The new law is to be effective Jan. 1, 2013. Both the head of the UTC and the Northwest Gas Association praised the new law as something both entities had been working on with state lawmakers for more than two years.

Caiman Energy has completed a 120 MMcf/d cryogenic processing plant in the Marcellus Shale in Marshall County, WV, and, prompted by drilling projections from existing and potential customers, plans to open a 200 MMcf/d facility at the same location later this year, the Dallas-based company said Wednesday.

Natural gas will be the fastest growing fossil fuel globally to 2030, but growth will slow as the market base expands and demand-side efficiency measures take hold, according to a forecast by BP plc.

Natural gas will be the fastest growing fossil fuel globally to 2030, but growth will slow as the market base expands and demand-side efficiency measures take hold, according to a forecast by BP plc.

Looking to keep up with the “growing needs of producers” as shale gas development expands at a breakneck pace, ONEOK Partners LP said Wednesday it will invest between $405 million to $470 million between now and the end of 2011 for projects in the Bakken Shale in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and the Woodford Shale in Oklahoma.

Looking to keep up with the “growing needs of producers” as shale gas development expands at a breakneck pace, ONEOK Partners LP said Wednesday it will invest between $405 million to $470 million between now and the end of 2011 for projects in the Bakken Shale in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and the Woodford Shale in Oklahoma.